By Gardy Chacha
Research from the University of Southern California (USC) and Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) found that cooking red meats at high temperatures, especially pan-fried red meats, may increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer by as much as 40 per cent.
Mariana Stern, associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, led analyses for the study, “Red meat and poultry, cooking practices, genetic susceptibility and risk of prostate cancer: Results from the California Collaborative Prostate Cancer Study.”
Two thousand completed a comprehensive questionnaire that evaluated amount and type of meat intake, including poultry and processed red meat. Information regarding cooking practices (pan-frying, oven-broiling and grilling) was obtained using color photographs that displayed the level of doneness.
The study realised that more than half of the men included in the study were diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The study is crucial and important to Kenyan men who consider meat a delicacy.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) estimates per capita meat consumption in Kenya at 14.2 kilogrammes a year. Red meat is the most widely consumed due to its availability and lower costs. More so, Kenya has a Nyama Choma culture that is increasingly gaining prominence, which according to this research should get us worried.
When considering specific types of red meats, hamburgers-but not steak-were linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer. Researchers also found that men with diets high in baked poultry had a lower risk of advanced prostate cancer, while consumption of pan-fried poultry was associated with increased risk.
The researchers do not know why pan-frying poses a higher risk for prostate cancer, but they suspect it is due to the formation of the DNA-damaging carcinogens-heterocyclic amines (HCAs)-during the cooking of red meat and poultry.
When fat from the meat drips on an open flame, the rising smoke leaves deposits of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on the meat. There is strong experimental evidence that HCAs contribute to certain cancers, including prostate cancer.